This invention relates generally to automated tile-laying apparatus and more particularly to the specific improvement in existing tile-laying machines of eliminating gaps between tiles as they are laid.
Porous clay tiles have long been used to draw excess water from a field or to disperse fluids to a field, for example, their use in septic tank drain lines where the liquid effluent from a septic tank is dispersed over a large ground area. To properly utilize the tiles, a trench up to several feet deep, is normally dug, lined with gravel and the cylindrical tiles are laid end to end such that a long porous pipe is formed. This is covered with a layer of gravel and then the trench is filled in. The fluid flows into the pipe which is essentially horizontal, stands and seeps through the porous sides of the pipe to be dispersed into the similarly porous ground. Early methods of constructing such a drain field required hand laying of the clay tiles which is a long arduous back-breaking chore. Machinery has been developed to automatically dispense the clay tiles in a closely connected end to end relationship to form the required porous pipe. However, occasionally the ceramic tile will jam up in the dispensing chute with the result that a substantial gap is formed between the end of the preceding cylinder and the beginning of the subsequent cylinder. These gaps if uncorrected would allow the pipe to be stopped up by dirt or allow the effluent in the operational pipe to train out through the gap rather than disperse slowly through the porous clay tile wall. This draining would allow a high concentration of effluent at one point in the ground resulting in seepage to the surface providing a health hazard or the possibility of erosion underground resulting in a collapse of the ground immediately above the gap. In the past, eliminating the gaps has been a manual operation necessitating either an additional operator on the machine to insure the clay tiles are correctly positioned in the dispensing chute or an operator following along behind the machine to slide the clay tiles into correct position. The ability to correct the tile positions in the chute would be highly desirous and would improve existing machinery and eliminate the necessity for extra personnel during the tile-laying operations.